1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus such as a camera or the like adapted for use of a film cartridge and more particularly to an improvement in operability of the apparatus in loading and unloading the film cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 12 is a simplified oblique view showing the arrangement of the conventional camera. In loading the camera 101 with a film cartridge which is in a state of having a leader part of film put outside of the cartridge, it has been normally necessary to carry out the following procedure: (1) Correctly place the film cartridge in a cartridge chamber 101a in such a way as to have the film cartridge in mesh with a fork 103. (2) Adjust the length of the leader part of the film to have its fore end reach a spool 104. (3) Push a back lid 102 against the body of the camera 101 until the back lid 102 is locked by a back lid opening-closing lever 105. (4) Confirm, through a display device of the camera 101, that the spool 104 begins to take up the film and then a predetermined amount of the film has been wound on the spool 104. (5) If the amount of film wound on the spool is insufficient, confirm it on the display, then open the back lid 102 and repeat the procedure from the step (2).
In taking the film cartridge out from the camera 101, the following procedure is necessary. (6) After shots have been taken for a prescribed number of frames, the camera 101 automatically rewinds the film. Then, confirm completion of the rewinding. (7) Operate the back like opening-closing lever 105 to open the back lid 102. (8) Take out the film cartridge from the cartridge chamber 101a in a manner reverse to the film loading step. (9) Push the back lid 102 against the camera body 101 until the back lid 102 is locked by the back lid opening-closing lever 105.
In a case where the film cartridge is to be taken out before taking all shots for the prescribed number of frames, a forced rewinding switch 106 is pushed and completion of rewinding is confirmed before the steps (7), (8) and (9) mentioned above.
However, the film cartridge loading operation described above necessitates the adjustment work on the length of the leader part and confirmation of completion of winding. The reliability of the operation lowers in a dark place or in the event of a low visual acuity or unaccustomedness of the operator.
In the above-stated film cartridge taking out operation, the confirmation of completion of rewinding of film is sometimes made through the driving sound, driving vibrations, etc., of a film rewinding motor. In such a case, the confirmation tends to be incorrectly made due to ambient noises. Further, in the event of an untimely stoppage of film rewinding before completion of it due to the exhaustion of battery energy, etc., the completion of film rewinding might be incorrectly confirmed. If the back lid 102 is opened in such a state, a coil of exposed film would be ruined.
The forced rewinding switch 106 is disposed in a position which varies with the cameras and the internal mounting conditions of electrical parts. The position is also not easily discernible and thus tends to confuse the operator in general. Besides, since the use of the forced rewinding switch 106 is not frequently required, this switch is designed to be not readily operable and thus has necessitated the operator to use some special protruding tool or the like.
Meanwhile, a cartridge containing a film without having a leader part of the film protruding outside and a camera adapted for use of that cartridge including a leader part feeding-out mechanism and an automatic film transporting and rewinding mechanism have recently been proposed. Such a film cartridge in combination with such a camera solves some of the problems mentioned above. However, many of the problems still remain to be solved.